Are the Kubota ZTR's "fixed" now?

[tim l]

The transmissions may be better, or may not be. Time will tell. I can tell you the 300 series are 1) beastly large and heavy,2) expensive, and 3) not worth two cents on a hill side. Plus if you buy one you get a company who will refuse to acknowledge obvious design flaws. The ZD21, and apparently 28 mowers should have been recalled and the drive trains replaced with a redesigned drive train at Kubota's expense.

I wonder how many of those mowers they would have sold had had they promoted "The ZD's are pretty good mowers but never use them on a hill side, as this will certainly result in total transmission failure". Maybe they should have mounted bubble levels on the front of the mowers. That way as soon as the bubble indicated any type of incline you could immediately shut the mower off and tow it back to level ground.

 

[628pm]

I've had my ZD326p for several years now, I'm not sure what you mean they aren't good on hill sides, mine does a whole lot better than anything else I've ever had. I would say I would really like one of the F series mowers, but at this time I believe I would be shot if I said I wanted one of those. They would have to come down several thousand dollars before one would be in my garage. I don't know the incline degrees, so can't tell you that. If I have any complaints about my mower is working with it in wet conditions, it is not very good. I read on another thread a member placed weights in the back and it has done better since. Don't know if I will do that or just mow around the wet area until it drys. I mow 8 to 10 acres a week with mine.

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

Bill, I think he's referring to the old ZD21's and ZD25's suffering from hydraulic fluid starvation on slopes. There were more than a few reports of those having failed transmissions as a result, which resulted in an expensive fix. It was my understanding that Kubota fixed a lot of them on a case by case basis, and installed a larger fluid reservoir to alleviate the problem, but never did a recall.

While Kubota's handling of that was questionable at best, and I would be angry too if it had happened to me, that doesn't mean that the current ZD's are "not worth two cents on a hill side."

 

[tim l]

No guys, I am referring to the 300 series as not good on a hill side. I demoed one. It is real heavy, some of these are close to one ton. I was told this in in part due to the redesigned drivetrain which is now vastly larger in an effort to assure the company's reputation is not further damaged in light of all the previous transmission problems. I think it's probably the weight, but it is really hard to maintain footing on a slope, and with any kind of moisture you are done. Much worse than my ZD21 in my opinion. However, you can't use those on a hill side either. So in summary, the 300's won't stick to a slope, the ZD drivetrains go out on a slope. I'm thinking I'll hook my ZD to my ATV, leave the ZD in neutral, and have my wife pull me, kind of in trail mower style, across any slope mowing I got to do.

 

[628pm]

Tim, sorry to hear about your problems with the zd's, as I stated in my other posts I am happy with mine, had it for several years. I am with you if there is moisture, forget trying to mow on a hill side. I will agree with that for sure. But for me that happens maybe 5 to 10 % of the time, then I just don't mow that part. As stated before if money wasn't an issue I would have the F series 4wd, just can't justify at this time.

 

[RTII]

I'm going to disagree with Tim. I have a ZG327 and it works fine on my slopes which are fairly significant. At least as well as the other zero turn motors I tried and better than most. I actually put it down to the extra weight of the 300 series to sticking better on the slopes. I compared 4 zero turns on my property before choosing the ZG327. Tried the ZD221 - didn't like the rough ride with smaller tires and no suspension seat. The ferris 2000(?) - really liked this mower, handled the best and had the smoothest ride. Didn't like the idea of the exposed drive belt and pulley from the engine to the deck. Tried a comparable John Deere (forgot the model #) and it worked well also. Went with the Kubota because I liked the idea of the shaft drive for the deck, the deck was heavy gauged and I was more familiar (and happy) with the kuboata name. All of these did fine on the slopes in the dry.

Edit to add:

With that being said, I have an issue with the cut quality. I've got 10hrs on the machine. I've mowed with it 3 times and each time I have seen mohak's (for lack of better description) on every pass. For the first cut I put it down to extremely tall grass - 2'-3'. The next two mowings still happened while the grass was a reasonable cut length. I haven't talked to the dealer yet so I don't know if it's a correctable problem or what the cause might be. I do know at the moment I have to mow the same area twice to get a good cut. Frankly, my tractor shredder does a cleaner job of mowing. Out of town for the next 3 weeks but I'll get with the dealer and see what can be done. Probably also start a thread on here to see what experiences others might have had with regards to this problem and a possible fix.

 

[JOHNTHOMAS]

I've bought 3 F models. Bought my first F2680e 2wd 60" rear discharge deck about 4 or 5 years ago for my flat rental property. Liked it so well that I bought a F3080 4wd 6' rear discharge deck for my hillside acres. Tried the F2680e on home hillside and with deck down it would not go straight up my steepest part in front of my house but did OK on the rest of the yard. I could lift the deck slightly and go straighr up or back up anywhere. Barlows told me to fill the tires to get better traction.
Traded the F2680e last year toward another new F3080 6' side discharge deck. Disliked the side discharge deck so much that I sold my original 3 year old F3080 but buyer wanted the 60" rear discharge deck off of the F2680e that Barlows still had that I had traded them. Did the deck change and bought the F2680e back with the newer 6' side discharge deck on it. Before buying the used 150 hours F2680e back I tried a diesel Kubota zero turn.:thumbdown: It wasn't what I needed for my needs. I mow when the grass gets several inches past needing to be mowed. I don't like looking to see if a part has been mowed or not, I want to look and see high grass that needs mowing. That's not zero turn territory and the Kubota regional rep who happened to be a Barlows agreed as did Steve Barlow. If I cut my "yard" every week and it was flat then I might would consider a zd but alas I don't and it's not sooooo I'm sticking to the Fs. They do have a high sticker price and there is a lot of dealer profit in them so they can be bought for a substantial discount if the dealer will lower their profit. Most dealers don't keep any in stock but usually order them on demand so it's not like they will lose a bundle if they sell one at a discount. Most new Kubotas are not owned by the dealers, they are Kubota Company stock on dealers lots.

 

[MessickFarmEqu]

generally heavier zero turns do better on hills than lighter ones, weight = traction. For that reason the Z3xx tend to be some of the best.

 

[RTJ49]

Hi Neil,
I sure hope your right! I hope to see that Messick's truck, with the new Z323, in the driveway next week.
Raymond

 

[TailDragon]

The ZD331 I traded for another F3680 would side hill close to my F series, if it did head down hill better have a run off area. Had 400 hours on it when traded. The areas I mow are better suited for the F series. No problems with the hydrostat. Not enough smooth ground to mow any faster than the F3680.